beldame

A grandmother.

There he was welcom'd of that honeſt ſyre, / And of his aged Beldame homely well; / Who him beſought himſelfe to diſattyre, / And reſt himſelfe, till ſupper time befell.

Diſeaſed nature oftentimes breakes forth, / In ſtrange eruptions, oft the teeming earth / Is with a kind of collicke pincht and vext, / By the impriſoning of vnruly wind / Within her vvombe, vvhich for enlargement ſtriuing / Shakes the old Beldame earth, and topples down / Steeples and moſſegrovvn towers.

An old woman, particularly an ugly one.

Justice is an old hobbling beldame, and I can't get her to keep pace with Generosity, for the soul of me.

[…] have a curiosity to hear my fortune told: therefore, Sam, order the beldame forward.